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Investigators are trying to determine what sparked a fire that destroyed a number of businesses in Queens early Tuesday morning. Flames broke out around 2:30 a.m. inside a commercial building on 104th Street and Roosevelt Avenue in Corona. Eduardo Abieu, the owner of the restaurant Los Amigos, was inside the building when the fire broke out. "I saw the smoke come from the back of the building into the kitchen," said Abieu. "And then we called 911 right away." Now the 20 workers at the restaurant find themselves jobless, and seven other stores have been destroyed as a result of the fire, including a barber shop, nail parlor, and travel agency. "All these businesses help the community," said Miguel Langumas, a local store owner. "This is where people buy their clothes, their food, so now I think [the members of the community] are going to be down a little bit." It took nearly 140 firefighters less than two hours to get it under control, and four of them suffered minor injuries. Lack of people in the building made their job easier, said officials. "We had an advanced fire in one of the stores, " said Assistant Fire Chief Thomas Galvin of the FDNY. "For safety reasons we pulled everybody out, because there was no life threat at that time." The owner of the entire complex, Ralph Aiello, lives close by. He says he has insurance, but his main concern is for his tenants. "They are all good people," says Aiello. "I feel bad for them, but we will rebuild something."
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